Around 20 million years ago, proboscideans, the ancestors of modern elephants, began expanding from Africa and Arabia into Eurasia and the Americas. Early species lacked the long, flexible trunks we associate with today’s elephants and instead had elongated lower jaws with additional tusks. These long-jawed proboscideans thrived in diverse habitats until trunked species like mammoths and mastodons replaced them due to environmental changes.
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